MILLER & TYSEN

Check out our interview with the Emerging Musical Theatre Blog!  Read it HERE

Happy 2012!  The Burnt Part Boys was named one of Talkin’ Broadway’s Top Ten Albums of the Year.  Read their article HERE

The album was also a a critic’s pick on Theatermania!  Read that HERE

DCTheatreScene.com has lovely things to say, too.  Read them HERE

Extremely exciting news!  Tuck Everlasting has set it sights for Broadway next season! Click HERE to read the New York Times article!

Photos by Nick Coleman  http://colemanphotographix.com/

Everybody’s talking about the album!

Playbill

Theatermania

Broadwayworld

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

After a run in Spring 2010 as a co-production between Playwrights Horizons and Vineyard Theatre, the critically-acclaimed score of THE BURNT PART BOYS has been recorded by Yellow Sound Label, produced by Michael Croiter in conjunction with Playwrights Horizons, to be released in digital and CD formats on December 6, 2011. The album may be purchased at www.yellowsoundlabel.com and www.playwrightshorizons.org as well as through online outlets such as iTunes and in stores nationwide.

With music by Chris Miller, lyrics by Nathan Tysen and a book by Mariana Elder, THE BURNT PART BOYS (under the direction of Joe Calarco) was nominated for a 2010 Lucille Lortel Award for Best New Musical and received 4 stars in Time Out New York. The musical was described as “a warm-hearted coming-of-age story with a stirring score” (Daily News) with “excellent bluegrass-pop songs: tuneful, catchy and moving” (The New York Observer).

The album features performances by original cast members Michael Park (“As The World Turns,” Daytime Emmy Award Winner; How to Succeed…), Charlie Brady (South Pacific), Al Calderon (13), Andrew Durand (Spring Awakening), Noah Galvin (Our Town, Lortel nomination for The Burnt Part Boys), Steve French (In Transit), Molly Ranson (August: Osage County, the upcoming Carrie), and Randy Redd (Million Dollar Quartet) Evan Harrington (Broadway’s Avenue Q, Phantom) joins the cast for the recording. Orchestrations are by Tony Award winner Bruce Coughlin (The Light in the Piazza) and Musical Direction is by Vadim Feichtner.

The musicians on the album, under the direction of Mr. Feichtner (also Piano), include Matt Hinkley (Associate Conductor, Guitar), Maxim Moston  (Violin/Mandolin), Todd Low (Viola), Mark Vanderpoel (Bass), and Frank Pagano (Drums). The music coordinator for the production and the album is John Miller, with Music Copying by Emily Grishman and Music Preparation by Ms. Grishman and Katharine Edmonds.

The CD release will include a 24-page color booklet featuring complete lyrics, production photos by Joan Marcus, show credits, and a synopsis by Playwrights Horizons Director of Musical Theater Kent Nicholson.

Set in rural West Virginia in 1962, THE BURNT PART BOYS follows fourteen year-old Pete (Mr. Calderon), who is fighting to claim his past. His older brother Jake (Mr. Brady) is hoping to forge a future. With an eclectic band of friends teetering on the brink of adulthood, the youngsters embark on a life-altering journey to the coal mine that took their father’s life. With its soaring, elegiac bluegrass and pop-inspired score, this inspirational new musical finds both the streaks of light and the heart of darkness within us all.

Tony Award-winning author and composer William Finn (Falsettos; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) has praised Mr. Miller and Mr. Tysen as “enormously talented young writers scoping out difficult territory, trying to find a new and amazing world.” Since THE BURNT PART BOYS, the pair has written tunes for “Sesame Street” and “The Electric Company” as well as an adaptation of the popular novel Tuck Everlasting (book by Claudia Shear). Upcoming: the album release of their 2008 Drama Desk nominated song cycle, Fugitive Songs. Their website: www.millerandtysen.com.

Leadership support of the Playwrights Horizons Musicals in Partnership Initiative and partial funding of the developmental lab production of THE BURNT PART BOYS at Vineyard Theatre was generously provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Funding for the development of THE BURNT PART BOYS at Vineyard Theatre was also provided by The National Endowment for the Arts and The Maurer Family Foundation.

To Order the Album go here: WWW.AMAZON.COM (CD w/24-page full color booklet)

Or here: WWW.ITUNES.COM (Digital download)

After raising a whopping $15,586.00 with our Kickstarter Campain this summer, we started recording the instrumental tracks at Yellow Sound Lab!

Meet The Fugitive Songs Band:

Justin Mendoza: Piano

Matt Hinkley:  Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Dobro, Banjo

Joseph Brent: Fiddle, Mandolin

Rob Jost: Acoustic & Electric Bass

Michael Croiter: Percussion

We are so excited to have started!  Tentatively we are looking at early March as a release date for the album.   Thanks to all who helped support this album, we couldn’t have done it without you.   More updates to come!

TWO DAYS LEFT! Please DONATE and check out our articles:

PLAYBILL

BROADWAYWORLD

THEATERMANIA

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to all of you who have supported our KICKSTARTER campaign to record the studio cast album of FUGITIVE SONGS.  In just one month and one day we raised 12,000!  We are humbled and grateful and super excited to get to work on it.  There are, however, three more days of fundraising left and since so many of you continue to donate (Again, THANK YOU!) we are offering an additional incentive:

IF WE CAN RAISE $15,000 BY AUG 4^TH, EVERYONE WHO PLEDGES AT LEAST $25 WILL RECEIVE AN ADDITIONAL 5-SONG DIGITAL DOWNLOAD OF OUR NEW MUSICAL TUCK EVERLASTING!

We have been working on Tuck Everlasting (Book by Claudia Shear, Direction by Casey Nicholaw) for over a year now, and cannot wait to share the tunes with you, so please spread the word!  FYI- If you are interested in this additional incentive but did not pledge at least $25 or opted for no reward, it is very easy to edit and increase your pledge via the KICKSTARTER website.

Thanks again for the support.

Dearest friends/family/fans-

We did it! In one month and one day we raised $12,000 on KICKSTARTER!  Big thanks to buddy and backer #172 Lin-Manuel Miranda for pushing us over the edge!   We are humbled and eternally grateful to all of you.  Thank you for ensuring Fugitive Songs’ long happy life.  You will not be disappointed.

So…

We have two weeks left of the campaign, and were brainstorming what else can be done with the funds that keep coming in (Amazing. Awesome. Again, THANK YOU!).  Here’s the deal, if we can raise an additional $3,000 by August 4th, we are going to make a BONUS ALBUM!  Chris and I are going to put together a five-song demo (Performed and played by us) of our new musical TUCK EVERLASTING!  The songs will be available via a digital download to anyone who pledges at least $25.  We have been working on this musical (With a book by Claudia Shear, and direction by Casey Nicholaw) for over a year now, and cannot wait to share the tunes with you, so please spread the word!  FYI- If you are interested in this additional incentive but did not pledge at least $25, or opted for no reward, it is very easy to edit and increase your pledge via the KICKSTARTER website.

Again, infinite thanks to all of you for making this project a reality.  We promise to keep you updated as we start work on Fugitive Songs!

heartCHRIS & NATHAN